Sir James Dyson moves UK address from Singapore Business News

Billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Dyson moved his address to the UK, two years after moving to Singapore.

Companies House records show that details of Weybourne Limited – Dyson’s parent company – were updated on Tuesday and now show Sir James’s correspondence address is in the UK. Dyson’s head office remains in Singapore despite Sir James’ personal move.

Sir James has been criticized for his decision to move Dyson’s headquarters from the UK to Singapore in January 2019. Negative comments accused him of hypocrisy for moving the UK company’s base to Asia while being a a prominent supporter of Brexit.

The inventor has always said that the move had nothing to do with the UK’s decision to leave the EU and that it made business sense as many of Dyson’s future customers would be in Asia.

Last week he said Brexit had given the UK ‘freedom’ back. “We are a British company – I have invested a lot in this country,” he told the BBC.

In September, he accepted a loss of around £ 7million on what would have been Singapore’s most expensive apartment when he bought it a year earlier.

Last I heard, a spokesperson for Dyson said: “We do not comment on private family matters and nothing has changed as far as the company is concerned; the structure of the Group and the business logic behind it are unchanged. “

News of Sir James’ change of residence came as he found himself embroiled in a lobbying controversy in Westminster.

Boris Johnson has personally told Sir James he will ‘fix’ an issue regarding his company’s tax status after being contacted by the inventor about building fans at the height of the pandemic.

Sir James wrote to the Treasury asking for assurances that his staff would not have to pay additional tax if they came to the UK to work on the ventilator project as part of the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) .

When he did not receive insurance, he contacted the prime minister directly via text message, the BBC reported. Labor has accused the government of harassment and called for an urgent investigation into Boris Johnson’s conduct.

Responding to questions on the matter on Thursday, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it was “very good” that business leaders and voters had “direct access” to ministers and those who make decisions in Whitehall .

“I think in the real world, in reality, people contact ministers, contact MPs, all the time,” he told Sky News.

“Business people contact MPs all the time, voters contact me on my phone as well.

“I think in a modern democracy it’s great that people can have direct access to ministers and people who take responsibility.”